The Cow Moose Sign Project is expanding to include a large mural in Williams Lake.
Over the last week mural artist Dwayne Davis has been painting the mural on the side of a building at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Oliver Street, combining some of the images from the Cow Moose Sign Project developed by Dan Simmons.
Williams Lake Sportsmen’s Association president Kane Fraser came up with the idea of a mural and said the association fully supports the Cow Moose Sign Project.
“Dan had come in requesting donations for another sign project that he was working on,” Fraser told the Tribune Monday. “We were talking about spots to get the word out and the fact that the provincial government has decided to open up cow moose hunting this year.”
Fraser said he and his brother own Specter Automotive which rents five bays in the former Ridley building and it had just recently been painted.
“It popped into my mind that the wall would be a great spot for a cow moose mural because it’s newly freshly painted and it’s huge. I thought it would work out great.”
Fraser mentioned it to Simmons and in just over a week, Simmons came back and let him know the mural was going ahead.
“Dan is one of these guys who is so passionate about cow moose and conservation of the moose population so it’s available for current and future generations and he just jumped right on it,” Fraser said.
After Fraser put the idea into his head, Simmons said he took it to the next level and contacted Davis.
“I found out that Scott Nelson and his son Lucas Nelson own the building and went and talked to them about it. Their eyes got real bug-eyed and they said,’ yeah.’”
At first Davis sketched out a mural that would cover half the building, but Scott wanted the whole building painted, Simmons said.
Read more: Cow moose campaign gets political support in bid to shut down B.C.’s antlerless hunt
Davis and his son Steven, who is volunteering to help, were working on the mural Monday morning and had use of a man-lift they said was donated by a local business owner and Scott Nelson.
“It’s great to have the man-lift because it can go up a lot quicker. It is a very big mural and important with everything that is going on with the moose,” Davis said.
Simmons said the mural budget is $18,500, but they are down to about $9,200 owing because of donations.
“It’s going very well,” he said. “I’m down at the Tourism Discovery Centre every day promoting ending the cow moose hunt and trying to get John Horgan and Doug Donaldson to reverse the decision, but I’m also collecting donations for the mural.”
Read more: Cow Moose Sign Project founder continues to protest cow moose hunt in B.C.
Davis and Simmons will also be at the city council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15 to discuss the mural and requesting support from the City’s annual mural budget.
Davis started a GoFundMe for the project Monday evening.
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